No high stress due to restructuring: New SBI chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara

NEW DELHI:  Brushing aside the apprehensions regarding loan restructuring, newly appointed chairman of State Bank of India Dinesh Kumar Khara has said that while many corporate clients have approached the bank, it is well under manageable limits and the bank does not see much stress arising on the loan books. “When we look at the hits on our restructuring portal, it is an indication of the stress on our book. The indications are that stress is not very high,” Khara told reporters at his first press conference after taking charge as SBI chairman on Wednesday.

He added that some corporate customers have approached the bank for restructuring their outstanding dues, but the numbers are still manageable. “As far as our legacy bad loans are concerned we have already provided for them. As of now, we do not have visibility of the cases that will undergo restructuring under Covid restructuring. Overall, we are not envisaging this as a concern point,” he said.

Reassuring the customers, Khara said that the bank is well-capitalised for the situation and may go again for capital raising when there is spike in credit growth. “We will try to raise capital when there is a need. The capital raising will depend on the movement of credit growth. At present, the bank is adequately capitalised and has raised tier-Ii capital. Will reach out for capital raising as and when we see building up of asset,” he said. As on June 30, SBI’s capital adequacy ratio was at 13.4 per cent. 

Last month, the bank had already raised Rs 4,000 crore through the additional tier-1 bonds. The new chairman went on to add that SBI is also “very seriously” evaluating options to enter the country’s digital payments ecosystem as a primary stakeholder. The lender along with other stakeholders may apply to RBI for a licence to set up a payments company for operating digital payments networks across the country. Speaking about monetisation of Yono, the bank’s digital lending platform, Khara said there are various options being discussed.